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PNG: 1600 Reported Cases Of Police Brutality

Pacific Islands Development Program, East-West Center With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai‘i

Police internal affairs tally from 2007 to 2014

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, January 11, 2016) – More than 1600 cases of police abuses were received by the police internal affairs directorate between 2007 and 2014.

Police Commissioner Gari Baki released these figures yesterday as he declared 2016 as the year to discipline his officers amid growing discontent by the public about police brutality. He said that of the 1600 cases, 326 were classified as criminal cases, implicating members of the constabulary.

During the same period, 134 demotions were activated, 417 monetary fines were imposed and 202 officers were exonerated because of lack of sufficient evidence to support the allegations.

Mr Baki said that in 2014 alone, 173 cases were investigated resulting in 20 officers charged and these matters were referred to the courts.

He said that 125 of these cases were administrative disciplinary offences and were dealt with resulting in various penalties, including demotion and monetary fines.

More than 600 cases were recommended for dismissal in 2007-14 but of these figures only 274 dismissals were actually recorded by the Constabulary while a larger percentage of these cases were either reviewed or challenged in court and were not reflected in the statistics provided.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.